Our lives have become so modern and convenient that
sometimes it's hard to imagine what it was like when food was not fast, easy,
and readily available. But our ancestors had a very different experience, often
going for long periods without eating. As such, their bodies had to be prepared
and evolved to be able to withstand harsh conditions and long periods of time
without food.
They did this through metabolic flexibility. And to be clear,
metabolic flexibility is the body's ability to shift back and forth between
using glucose (from carbohydrates) and fatty acids (from fat) for fuel.
This is how your body
fuels itself.
The human metabolism is a complex system, but here's what
you need to know to understand how our bodies use food to produce energy: When
we eat (especially carbohydrate-loaded foods) our insulin levels rise, which
stimulates our cells to take in glucose. Then, the cell's mitochondria will use
the glucose to make ATP, or energy. Any glucose that is excessive of what the
body needs will then get stored as glycogen, and any fat that isn't utilized
gets stored as well (via a process called lipogenesis). During periods of
fasting or starvation, the body calls upon this stored energy. And the longer
the fasting period, the more the body will eventually revert to lipolysis, or
the breakdown of fat to fatty acids to use for fuel.
You can train your metabolism to keep you healthy and
fit.
If you can't go for long periods without eating, feel like
you need to take a big snooze after a meal, feel lethargic more often than not,
or you have a hard time losing weight despite dieting—you may be experiencing
metabolic inflexibility. The good news is that even for those individuals who
are genetically predisposed to metabolic inflexibility, changing lifestyle
behaviors and feeding times can actually help to reset the body. Here are four
ways to take charge of your metabolism and regain metabolic flexibility:
Author: Dr. Eva Selhub
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